Pistons aim to extend Celts' woes

Despite posting the season's best road mark, Boston is 0-6 away in the playoffs.

May 24, 2008|By Krista Jahnke, Detroit Free Press

DETROIT -- So the Boston Celtics have lost their first six road playoff games. The Pistons hear that stat, and they shrug and say, "What's your point?"

"You don't all of the sudden go from the best road team in the regular season," Detroit Coach Flip Saunders said, "to, 'Well, they're never going to win on the road.' "

The Celtics will bring their 0-6 road mark to the Palace of Auburn Hills for tonight's Eastern Conference finals Game 3, but the Pistons prepared Friday with a much different perspective.

They see not a winless-on-the-road team coming in, but a team that has performed well for two straight games, even if it has won only one.

And what's more, they see a team coming in with more on the line than at any other point in the playoffs.

For the first time, winning on the road isn't an option, it's a must-do. That changes things.

"People are going to say, 'Well, they haven't won on the road; can they win on the road?' " Saunders said. "They're going to come in with a great focus. We've got to come in knowing that just because we're playing at home doesn't mean anything."

It really doesn't because Saunders knows the question he posed is hypothetical -- he knows the Celtics can win on the road.

They were the best team in the regular season, losing only 10 times on the road all year. They also won their only game at the Palace.

Saunders chalks up Boston's road troubles in the first two rounds to matchups. Since those change with each round, there's no reason to believe the results can't, too.

"Atlanta was a very energetic team, and their crowd was unbelievable, and they played with great enthusiasm," Saunders said. "When they played Cleveland, they played LeBron [James]. And LeBron at home is great because he gets to the free-throw line a lot and makes plays for other people."

The last two games were, in Saunders' opinion, the Celtics' best all-around games of the postseason.

While they've looked tight at times in their road losses, they didn't Thursday when they made most of the shots they needed to in the fourth quarter.

As a team, they're shooting 50 percent for the series. Kevin Garnett has averaged 25 points on better than 60 percent shooting. Paul Pierce didn't run as many pick-and-rolls in Game 2 and is still averaging 24 points on 53 percent shooting. And Ray Allen turned back into himself Thursday night and now has a 17-point average for the series. Those stats mean more at this point than a road record against previous opponents, and the Celtics can still get better if they just get a little more from their role players.

"They can do more," Saunders said. "That's the scary thing."

Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said winning on the road is just a matter of getting back to what they did all season.

"We executed well on the road," Rivers said. "We didn't turn the ball over, we rebounded well, and we were a great defensive team. We haven't done all those. We've done some of those things; we just haven't done them all for 48 minutes. And in the playoffs, you have to."

That's certainly proven true against the Pistons, who have lost only their playoff opener to Philadelphia at home.

To try to foster the energy needed for that game plan, the Celtics spent Friday resting. Rivers admitted in a conference call with reporters that he thought his team might be mentally fatigued.

There's good reason why it would be: Not only have the Celtics played two seven-game series, but after the Pistons' Game 2 win Thursday, they must realize how problematic Detroit can be when it's using its balance.

The Pistons' top six players all scored at least 13 points in Game 2, counteracting the Big Three's combined 75.

"What makes Detroit good is you can't really hone in on one guy," Rivers said. "Obviously in the two previous series we've had LeBron and Joe Johnson. Even though they had players around them, clearly they were the focal points."